Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 882: Chapter 793: Unwilling to Be a Slave (Part 13)

Nangong Shuangshuang’s face changed, and her speech became hesitant. Bai Ruoyun thought she had frightened Nangong Shuangshuang and smiled with satisfaction. She continued, ”You have just entered the palace and couldn’t possibly know the dangers of this harem.

None of the mistresses in this harem would hesitate to take a life. Our lives as servants are worth nothing, disappearing in this harem as if they never existed. The best way to stay alive is to stay away from the various fights in the harem. To stay away from fights, the first thing you must avoid is the mistresses.

Don’t think that currying favor with an Empress will lead you to sudden success. Before that, you might get caught up in the mistresses’ fights, and there won’t even be bones left when you die.”

Nangong Shuangshuang slightly lowered her head and calmly echoed Bai Ruoyun’s words, ”Aunt, you’re right. It was indeed dangerous just now; when the Noble Consort glanced over, it made me so nervous.”

Bai Ruoyun couldn’t help but laugh then, ”It’s the first time you’ve seen such a high-ranking mistress as the Noble Consort and were frightened by her presence. Although the mistresses don’t care for the lives of us servants, they don’t get angry so easily; there’s no need to panic.”

While agreeing with Bai Ruoyun’s advice, Nangong Shuangshuang discreetly rearranged the herbs in the basket hanging on her wrist, hiding other herbs that had slightly shown beneath the mugwort, now carefully covered with no trace left.

After returning to the Violence Room, Nangong Shuangshuang busied herself again with handling the herbs. Bai Ruoyun observed her closely for several days and found that Nangong Shuangshuang was indeed very composed. She dried herbs, made mugwort sticks, and treated Xiao Chun’s illness in an orderly fashion, with no change from her usual behavior.

After watching for a long time, Bai Ruoyun couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked Nangong Shuangshuang, ”Shuangshuang, I’ve seen you busy drying herbs these past few days. Don’t you have any other thoughts?”

Nangong Shuangshuang gave Bai Ruoyun a peculiar look, ”Of course I have other thoughts. That is, Aunt, please don’t drag me to dig herbs again. Do you know that the herbs we’ve dug these past days are barely manageable?

I’ve been so busy these last few days. If the herbs aren’t handled timely, they’ll be wasted. At best, their efficacy will be reduced; at worst, they’ll rot. How regrettable it would be if these good herbs spoiled.

It’s not easy for us to gather herbs. I’m begging you, Aunt, please spare those herbs. There’s no one else competing with us here, so there’s no need to rush to dig them all out.

Herbs won’t spoil in the ground, but if dug up and not promptly processed, they would, and that’s not good. Aunt, can you at least let me finish processing the ones I have before we dig any more?”

Nangong Shuangshuang spoke so earnestly that Bai Ruoyun blushed with embarrassment, coughing in mock anger, ”You cheeky girl, daring to speak to your Aunt this way, beware lest I punish you with a whipping.”

Nangong Shuangshuang playfully smiled, leaned closer, and pointed at her smooth cheek with her hand, ”If Aunt has the heart, go ahead and hit me here.”

Bai Ruoyun couldn’t help but chuckle, tapping Nangong Shuangshuang’s forehead, ”You know I can’t bear to hit you. Fine, fine, you’re the treasure of our Violence Room. I can’t lay a hand on you, and I’ll spare those herbs too. We will only dig more when we’ve nearly used up what we have.”

”Then this servant thanks Aunt on behalf of the herbs for sparing them,” Nangong Shuangshuang continued to joke. Bai Ruoyun felt completely at ease, no longer worried Nangong Shuangshuang harbored any hidden motives. After exchanging a few light-hearted words, she took her small whip and continued her rounds.

During this period, she was busy running about with Nangong Shuangshuang collecting herbs, so these palace maids had been somewhat neglected by Qiushuang and Qiuyi, making them slack off. She intended to keep them on their toes, lest they become too idle and start conceiving wild thoughts.

Watching Bai Ruoyun’s departing figure, Nangong Shuangshuang smiled inexplicably, turned back, and continued drying herbs. The mugwort she had previously dried was ready and needed to be made into mugwort sticks for future use.

As Nangong Shuangshuang was making the mugwort sticks, Qiushuang suddenly came stumbling over, full of panic, her face streaming with tears. Seeing Nangong Shuangshuang, she immediately grabbed her and started pulling her along, speaking incoherently.

”Shuangshuang, help, Shuangshuang, help quickly, Qiuyi is in trouble, Shuangshuang, hurry and save her, ooh, ooh, Qiuyi, ooh...” Qiushuang dragged Nangong Shuangshuang as she cried and ran.

Nangong Shuangshuang only caught bits and pieces of what was being said. From Qiushuang’s sobbing words, Nangong Shuangshuang could roughly deduce that Qiuyi had fallen ill with a sudden onset of symptoms and had already collapsed. Qiushuang, who was very close to Qiuyi, was scared. Fortunately, Qiushuang remembered to quickly find Nangong Shuangshuang to treat Qiuyi’s illness.

At this moment, Qiushuang was very upset, and although Nangong Shuangshuang asked several times, Qiushuang couldn’t clearly describe Qiuyi’s symptoms. But Qiushuang recognized the illness because every year, many servants died from it, which truly frightened her, making her cry incessantly.

Nangong Shuangshuang couldn’t discern much from Qiushuang’s tear-filled responses, only knowing that Qiuyi had suffered from abdominal pain and diarrhea since last night, but nothing else was clear.

Nangong Shuangshuang could only roughly determine that the abdominal pain likely pointed to an intestinal disease. Beyond that, she couldn’t analyze further, so she quickened her pace, following Qiushuang to reach Qiuyi early for diagnosis and treatment.

When Nangong Shuangshuang arrived, Qiuyi was not in her room but had been carried away by others and placed in a secluded storage room far from everyone else.

Since Qiuyi was sick, everyone was unsure if it was contagious and did not dare let Qiuyi stay with everyone else, so she was moved to this location. At this point, they had forgotten how Qiushuang and Qiuyi used to care for them, and no one stepped forward to help.

Everyone stayed at a distance, watching the storage room where Qiuyi was. When they saw Nangong Shuangshuang approach, each of them looked at her expectantly. Previously, her treatments for Bai Ruoyun’s menstrual pain and Xiao Chun’s leg had not greatly impressed them.

But this time was different. This time Qiuyi had an acute illness, and the symptoms were frightening. Everyone was afraid, unsure if Qiuyi’s illness was contagious, yet they hoped that Nangong Shuangshuang’s skills were indeed extraordinary, enough to cure Qiuyi.

The always-crying Qiushuang opened the storage room door, and immediately saw Qiuyi, lying there amidst a pile of dry grass with no bedding at all. She couldn’t help but glare angrily at the people far outside watching.

She and Qiuyi had taken care of these people regularly, and now that Qiuyi was ill, she could understand their fear of infection. After all, in the harem, a servant with such an illness meant death. Fear of death is only human.